Veggie prices rise faster than crude rates

Gayatri Nayak, TNNFeb 4, 2006, 12.06am IST

MUMBAI: Headline-grabbing crude oil prices are seen as a threat to price stability world-wide. However, in India it is the skyrocketing prices of vegetables, pulses, egg and meat are hurting the consumers' pockets the most.

As per the latest wholesale price index (WPI) data, while overall inflation has marginally slowed down to 4.4per cent in December '05, of all the items, vegetable prices recorded the steepest hike. Even the prices of pulses went up steeply as compared to crude oil prices. While oil prices rose 12.5per cent in December '05, the prices of vegetables and pulses went up 42per cent and 15.6per cent, respectively.

Even the prices of egg, meat and fish went up by 12.8per cent. Even in January '06, the rise in fruits and vegetables continued to be steeper than crude oil prices. However, the weighted contribution of these items is much lesser than that of crude oil.